It has long been desired to obtain a casket design that is both practical, aesthetically appealing and yet inexpensive. This has long been a frustrated goal since the nature of the design and the construction materials require a substantial amount of skilled labor. Further, the typical casket, either wood or metal construction, cannot be effectively sealed for extremely long periods of time.
The above problems have been partially eliminated by R. W. Gosnell whose U.S. Pat. No. 2,848,780 discloses a vault and casket combination that is constructed entirely of fiberglass material. This casket is still of rather complex design, utilizing several corrugated layers for supporting thin plastic cover sheets. Gosnell uses a peripheral sealing concept that is effective in hermetically sealing the casket contents. This is done by placing a bead of bonding agent or sealing compound within a peripheral groove of the body support platform. This groove is complementary to the lower edge of the casket cover. When the cover is received within the groove, the sealing agent bonds the two units into a single intergral unit. The body support surface is formed of a corrugated fiberglass material which must be covered to present an appropriate appearance. Also, the base is planar in configuration so it will lie flat on a planar support surface with no integral provision for gripping and lifting the casket. This must therefore be done with the aid of extrinsic tools.
The present invention was designed with its primary object being to provide a lightweight, strong, and inexpensive casket formed or molded of a synthetic resin material such as fiberglass reinforced synthetic resin and thermoplastic sheet material.
Another primary object is to provide such a casket that may be effectively hermetically sealed and wherein the sealed condition will last considerably longer than prior forms of metal and wooden casket construction.
A further object is to provide such a casket that includes integral fingerhold areas that are supported above any flat support surface whereby attendants may easily lift and handle the casket.
A still further object is to provide such a casket that includes integral recesses within a bed portion for receiving a body supporting pad and pillow.
These and still further objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description which, taken with the accompanying drawings, describe a preferred form of my invention. It should be noted however that the description and drawings are merely presented to describe a preferred form of the invention and that various other forms may be readily envisioned. Therefore only the claims found at the end of the specification are to be taken as strict definitions and limitations upon the scope of my invention.